Normal
by CorvidaeCorvusCorax
Summary: Sometimes Toad forgets how abnormal Victoria really is. Takes place a year or so after Anomaly. It's a one shot. ToadXoc sort of. More of a tease, really.


Normal

Sometimes, Toad forgets how normal Victoria is.

Victoria Ward had patterns. On Sundays, she worked on her laptop in the living room, while the television chattered on in the background—usually ignored. Mondays were her laundry and cleaning day, where she would travel through the house with a large pile of a mix of clothing belonging to Toad, herself, and Lucy, who stayed with them most of the week, and scrubbing the floor on her hands and knees until the sun set.

Tuesdays through Fridays, she was out of the house, teaching her "field group," consisting of five students from Winifred Augusta's, how to control their abilities. Friday nights were spent out at the movies with Lucy Fournier, an extremely talented Precog and Victoria's best friend (though they were separated by quite the age gap).

Finally, Saturdays were Victoria's true day off, and the day she usually sat in front of the TV with him for hours, just talking like two normal people, sometimes eating TV dinners and tubs of ice cream. They would laugh and joke, making fun of reality television, or get into discussions about the news. Her eyes would be tired, and eventually he would have to carry her to her room after she fell asleep sitting up, exhausted from the week. And when he would leave her room, he'd stand in the door way, watching her form for only a moment, and realize exactly how_ normal_ Victoria Ward really was.

Victoria would wake up at the crack of dawn on school days to make a lunch for Lucy, then make something for breakfast for the three of them, and then drive Lucy to school. It was on one of these days that he finally snapped.

"Why are you so bloody normal?!"

Lucy dropped her fork in surprise, and Victoria nearly broke (another) coffee mug. He met her eyes, gold against hazel. His expression was one of anger and confusion. She seemed little more than amused. Lucy looked as though she was about to laugh.

"What do you mean?" Victoria asked.

His face suddenly felt very hot, and their eyes felt like they were burning holes into him. He stuttered over his sentences, "Well, you know...you do laundry...and bake pastries for school lunches. And then you watch the telly. Stuff like that."

Victoria gave a derisive snort, "Yeah, what else am I supposed to do in my spare time?"

Feeling very awkward, Lucy finished her breakfast and grabbed her backpack, "I'm gonna go wait in the living room."

"Okay, I get that you used some of the school's money to rent this house," Toad continued. It was a normal, two story house with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a half, a full kitchen and dining room, and rooms to spare, "And I get that you grew up around normal society, so you know how to hide your abilities...But how did you end up being so normal?!"

Victoria thought back to Xavier's, and her time spent there. The students all seemed normal enough on the surface, why didn't he accuse them of anything? Was it because just by looking at her, she seemed human?

"I don't understand," Victoria shook her head, "And I have to take Lucy to school."

"Wait!" He shouted at her. She sighed and faced him, "After _everything _that happened to you, the weird precog thing, nearly dying at the hands of someone who practically raised you...someone you trusted your life with, and above all else _killing_ that man—something no normal person is capable of getting through, how do you do it?"

Victoria read his files almost every night when she was charged with saving him, not that she knew it at the time (if she had, Charlotte knew she would have tried to change the future, or worse: fail), and read all of the horrors he committed, and the horrors committed against him. Of course he wouldn't understand how she could fit in so well with normal society. It had been taken from him as soon as he was born, before he could understand what normal was.

She looked thoughtful for a second, and he loved that face she made. A serious expression, and her eyes were boring right into him, almost like he could see the gears churning in her head. She was frighteningly intelligent, and rarely had to think hard, part of the reason he enjoyed when he made her do it.

Her voice was low, "I'm not as normal as you think I am."

He didn't believe her. She was odd, but not in the sense that she thought. Sure, she was a mutant, and sure, she was a bit nerdy and tended to be ignored by attractive men, but she was normal by mutant standards, "Bullshit."

"Look, I have to drive her to school," Victoria said, "I'll be back in a bit, okay?"

He felt as though he may have said something wrong.

About an hour later, he heard the click of the lock downstairs, signaling Victoria's return. She was talking to someone, or maybe on the phone. Not wanting to face her at the moment, he listened closely instead.

"Yeah, I heard about Liam, mom," She said, her voice echoing through the seemingly empty house. She didn't call out his name like she usually did, so they could go out for coffee or just talk before she had to go back to the school for field training, "No, I haven't seen him since graduation."

She paused, waiting for a reply. Liam was her brother, but she rarely mentioned her family. For the last year or so, her focus was solely on Lucy and Toad. Lucy knew better than to pry for some odd reason (because it was her favorite thing to do), and Toad just never asked. She never really asked about his personal life, so he would return the favor.

"I can pay for the house, myself," She sounded offended, and her voice rose in anger, "Well, I'm not sure if you noticed, mom, but I haven't needed any of you since the Incident! Why the hell are you acting like I owe you anything?! Everything I have now, is thanks to Charlotte, _not you_." There was a long silence, "Fine. I don't need you anyway." The last sentence came out more vindictive than anything he'd ever heard before. Not since she almost lost her life to Barnabas.

There was the loud stomping of her footsteps coming closer, up the stairs, followed by her door slamming. He forgot how young she was too. Barely twenty years old, and most of her life she hadn't depended on her family. Not since her powers activated.

After about ten minutes of silence, he found it safe to knock on her door. Young people with strong abilities were dangerous with mood swings, but that's not why he wanted to wait. He also didn't want her to think he was snooping, lest she boot him from the house he'd shared with her for over a year—after she returned to Xavier's for him.

Her return was a pleasant surprise to him. He was almost sure she was going to leave him to the wolves, after she had worked so hard to save his life.

"Tori?" He knocked on her door, calling her name. He repeated this process for a minute or so, before just barging in.

What Victoria usually looked like to him was not what he found. Her makeup was usually well-done, lightly lined and almost natural-looking, with a pale complexion and neatly done brownish-red hair (usually straightened and pulled back tight into a ponytail), and her clothing was always pressed, tucked in, resembled James Bond in a strange sense (she had gotten him hooked on the films).

Today, Victoria was sitting on the edge of her bed, suit jacket strewn across the room, and white shirt crumpled up and untucked. Makeup was streaking and caked a bit around her eyes, making her look a bit like a raccoon, and her face was bright red and puffy. Seeing her like that, especially so sudden, made his heart break a little for her.

"You okay?" He felt very stupid all of a sudden.

Her face twisted into anger, and she barked at him (directly, for the first time ever, in actual, unadulterated _anger_), "_Do I look okay, Mort_?!"

He was stunned.

Instead of saying anything, he sat with her and held her the way he did when Charlotte came to rescue them, her in front of him between his legs, with his arms wrapped around her waist, face buried in her neck, and just sitting there in silence. She didn't cry, or acknowledge him in any way, but she did explain why she was so upset. He figured it was so he wouldn't worry.

"In case you didn't hear, that was my mother," She said. He didn't reply, just listened, "They've decided that because their children can't behave like normal members of society, they've cut both of us off. My brother escaped rehab and is in some shit hole in Florida, and all I wanted to do was help save the world," she snorted, "So much for me being normal, huh?"

Just at that moment, he realized she was telling the truth. She wasn't as normal as he thought. She had a druggie brother, and parents who couldn't be bothered with them, and the only friends in the world she had were a fifteen year old precog and an ugly mutant man. She'd help save the world, only to be abandoned by her entire family.

He had an idea.

That day, she took the afternoon off from work, and they sat, watching television and eating every snack item in the house. They laughed at reality TV and joked with each other. The least he could do was help her feel normal.


End file.
